


Sisters

by Jestana



Category: National Treasure Series, RED (2010)
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-14
Updated: 2011-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-15 16:11:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/162553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After leaving MI6, Victoria goes to the only family she can trust: her twin sister, Emily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sisters

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fact that Helen Mirren was in both R.E.D. and National Treasure. Beta by unicorn_catcher on LJ. Rating for some violence.

**Sisters**

  
Victoria looked around as she climbed out of the taxi, subtly searching for any sign that she'd been followed. Satisfied that she hadn't for the moment, she accepted her suitcase from the driver with a gracious smile and paid him. "Thank you so much."

"My pleasure, Miss." The driver touched the brim of his cap and climbed behind the wheel.

"At least he didn't call me ma'am. I'm not old enough for that yet." Shaking her head, she turned to study the house she stood before. It was a handsome house, homey and welcoming. "I hope she doesn't mind my arriving unannounced..."

Composing herself, she followed the front walk to the door and rang the bell. The woman who answered looked almost exactly like Victoria, except her pale blonde hair reached just below her shoulders instead of cut in a bob. Blue eyes exactly like Victoria's widened with surprised recognition when she saw her visitor. "Vickie! Oh, good heavens!"

"Hello, Emmy." Victoria smiled hopefully, encouraged by her twin's response. "May I come in?"

Nodding and opening the door wider, Emily Appleton-Gates stepped back so Victoria could enter the house. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too." Victoria wasn't surprised to find herself enveloped in a hug before the door shut behind her. "I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch like I should have."

Emily waved it off as she ushered her sister into the living room. "I knew work came first for you. It was enough to know you were alive."

"Yes, alive," she whispered, blinking back tears as she lightly brushed her hand over her still-flat stomach. _I may be physically alive, but I feel so dead inside now that Ivan--_ Sternly stopping that train of thought, she turned to her twin. "I hope you have room for a guest."

Smiling, Emily nodded. "Oh, yes. We have a guest room you can use for as long as you need it."

"Thank you." Her gratitude was very much heartfelt. "I just need it for as long as it takes me to find a place to live."

Her sister stared in surprised pleasure, "You're _moving_ to America? What about your job?"

"I resigned," she answered simply, unwilling to go into details yet. "Would you mind if I laid down for a bit? The flight over rather tired me out."

Nodding quickly, Emily snatched up Victoria's suitcase. "Right this way, Vickie. We can catch up later. I want you to meet Pat and Ben, too."

"I look forward to it." She meant it, too. Between her work for MI6 and her desire to spend as much time with Ivan as they could manage, she'd neglected to visit her sister until now.

As she followed Emily up the stairs, Victoria noticed quite a few pictures hanging on the walls. She recognized her twin and the occasional appearance of their parents. Alongside them were a man with brown hair, an adorable little boy, and an older man around their parents' age. _They must be Emmy's husband, son, and father-in-law..._ Opening the door to a room, Emily commented over her shoulder, "It's not much, but it's comfortable."

"It's fine, I assure you." She took her suitcase from Emily as she passed her to enter the room. "I've had worse accommodations."

Emily chuckled wryly as Victoria set her suitcase on the bed. "So've I. Sleep as long as you like and just come downstairs once you wake up."

"I will." She returned to the doorway so she could hug her twin again. "I've missed you, Emmy."

The other woman returned the hug tightly. "I missed you, too, Vickie."

After Emily left, her sister opened her suitcase and pulled out the make-up case that hid her gun. Setting it on the bedside table and a knife under the pillow, Victoria closed her suitcase and set it on the floor. She removed her shoes and slipped under the covers with a sigh. Cuddling the extra pillow close, Victoria tell the tears come, one name on her mind and lips: "Ivan..."

* * *

  
"Em, we're home!" Patrick Gates called as he entered the house with three-year-old Ben.

Her voice floated down the hall to them, "In the kitchen, Pat!"

Ben took off at a run while Patrick followed at a more sedate pace. "Hi, Mom!"

"Hello, Sweetheart." Patrick reached the kitchen in time to see Ben squirm free of his mother's arms. She looked up at her husband with a warm smile. "Hello, Pat."

"Hello, Em." He took her into his arms for a warm kiss, ignoring the disgusted sounds Ben made in the background.

The sound of a wry voice from the doorway _did_ cause Patrick to end the kiss and turn that way: "I guess I don't need to ask if he makes you happy, do I, Emmy?"

"For the record, Vickie, he makes me _very_ happy," Emily responded with a smile, gently freeing herself from her husband's arms to greet the woman who looked almost exactly like her with a hug.

The other woman smiled as she returned Emily's hug, but Patrick thought he saw a hint of sadness in the stranger's eyes. "I'm glad to hear it. One of us should have everything she wants in life."

"Did something happen?" Emily looked at her friend in concern.

She shook her head slightly. "Perhaps you should introduce me to your husband and son first?"

"Oh! Yes, of course." Emily smiled sheepishly, turning to them. "Pat, Ben, I'd like you to meet my twin sister, Victoria Winslow. Vickie, the two most important men in my life: Dr. Patrick Henry Gates and Benjamin Franklin Gates."

Surprised as he was to learn that his wife had another sibling, let alone a twin sister, Patrick nevertheless offered his hand with a warm smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Winslow."

"The pleasure is mutual, Dr. Gates," she replied as she shook his hand, her accent more pronounced than her sister's. "Though, please call me Victoria. We _are_ family, after all."

He nodded as he released her hand. "As long as you call me Patrick."

"Agreed." She returned the nod.

Ben barely waited for them to finish their exchange before all but flinging himself at her. "Hi, Aunt Vickie!"

"Hello, Ben." Victoria crouched so she could hug her nephew tightly. "How old are you?"

He smiled as he proudly told her, "I'll be four in January!"

"Almost four? Wow, you'll be a big boy, won't you?" She glanced up at her twin with a raised eyebrow.

Much to Patrick's amusement, his wife blushed. Ben, blithely unaware, nodded his agreement with his aunt. "Uh-huh! Will you be visiting for long? Uncle Balthie never does."

"I'm moving to the area, so you'll be seeing so much of me that you'll wish I'd stop coming to visit," she teased him, tapping the tip of his nose with her finger.

He shook his head vigorously, "Nuh-uh!"

"We'll have to just wait and see, won't we?" Victoria asked, raising her eyebrows with a fond smile. She hugged her nephew again and Patrick wondered if he imagined the longing that seemed to sweep across her face just then.

Releasing Ben, she straightened up as Emily added, "For now, Vickie will be staying with us until she can find a home of her own."

"She will?" Patrick glanced at his wife in surprise. _Isn't that the sort of decision we're supposed to make **together**?_

Emily blushed again as she met her husband's glance. Turning back to her twin, she asked, "Would you mind watching Ben for a few moments?"

"Not at all." Victoria took her nephew's hand. "Come on, Ben, why don't you show me around the place?"

Beaming, the little boy nodded. "Sure!"

Patrick waited until his sister-in-law and son were out of earshot before turning to his wife, "We're supposed to discuss things like this _before_ we make a decision."

"I know, and I'm sorry, Pat, but I haven't seen Vickie since we took the GCSE exam!" Emily responded, blue eyes contrite yet determined. "I came to America to study and she started working."

He smiled reassuringly as he gently rested his hands on her waist. "I have no objections to your sister visiting until she can find her own place. I just would have liked a little more warning."

"I had about as much warning as you did," she told him ruefully. "I hadn't heard from her in months, and then she shows up on our doorstep, suitcase in hand." She sighed and shook her head thoughtfully. "She told me she resigned from her job, but she didn't say why. I'm hoping she'll tell me soon."

Patrick gently drew Emily in for a tender kiss. "I'm sure she will. You two are obviously very close and I wouldn't dream of getting in your way."

"Thank you, Pat." Smiling, she stretched up to return the kiss, with interest.

* * *

  
Victoria looked up from reading a book to her nephew when her sister and brother-in-law appeared in the doorway to the rec room. From the looks on their faces, they'd ironed out their problem. "All is well now?"

"Yes, it is." Emily smiled as she sat down on Ben's other side. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need to."

Looking at Patrick as he perched on the arm of the sofa beside his wife, Victoria told him, "Thank you, Patrick. I'll find someplace soon so you won't have me underfoot for long."

"Take your time, Victoria," he informed her, idly combing his fingers through Emily's hair as she leaned back against him. "I don't want you to end up somewhere horrible simply because you were in too much of a hurry to get out of here."

Smiling wryly, she told him, "Even if I _did_ end up somewhere 'horrible', I can take care of myself, I assure you."

"If you're anything like Em, I have no doubts about that," he answered with a wry smile of his own, dropping a kiss onto the top of Emily's head.

Ben yawned widely then, scooting over on the couch so he could lay his head in Victoria's lap. She stared down at her nephew, surprised by how trusting he was of her. Feeling her heart clench at the thought that she'd never get to experience this with her own child, she slowly moved her hand to begin stroking Ben's thick brown hair. The little boy sighed and curled closer to her. "'M glad you're here, Aunt Vickie."

"Me, too, Ben," she whispered, tears blurring her vision and a lump forming in her throat. When she felt a touch on her shoulder, Victoria's free hand whipped up to catch the wrist of the offending hand, blinking away the tears. Emily and Patrick both stared at her in surprise and she slowly released her sister's hand. "Sorry, Emmy. I've had to hone my reflexes quite a bit since I started working for MI6."

Rubbing her wrist, Emily nodded understandingly. "I see. I'll try not to make any sudden moves around you, then."

"MI6?" Patrick asked, eyes wide with surprise behind his glasses.

Victoria nodded warily, not sure of how her brother-in-law was going to react to the news. "Yes, they recruited me while I was still deciding whether I was going to do my A-Levels or not."

"You must have stood out from your classmates for them to recruit you like that," he commented thoughtfully, his expression impressed.

She shrugged slightly. "I couldn't say what they saw in me."

"You were the best shot on the Archery team," Emily reminded her sister as Ben relaxed further against Victoria.

Meeting her sister's blue-eyed gaze with her own, Victoria told her, "Really, I _cannot_ say what they saw in me."

"Oh." Emily's eyes widened a little at that. "Top secret?"

Victoria nodded. "Exactly."

"Em said that you told her you resigned," Patrick reminded his sister-in-law, gray eyes curious.

Nodding again, Victoria gazed down at her nephew, watching him sleep. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she told them, "I resigned for personal reasons that I'd rather not share at the moment. Suffice it to say that they're good reasons."

"I won't pressure you," Emily told her twin, resting her hand on Victoria's arm. "But you know I'll listen if you need to talk to someone about it."

Covering her sister's hand with hers, Victoria nodded a third time, the lump back in her throat. _How do I tell you that you have everything that I want but will never have, Emmy?_

* * *

  
Emily liked having her sister back in her life. She'd missed Victoria since they'd parted ways seven years before. They'd kept in touch, but that had been sporadic at best, given the nature of her sister's work. Now they saw each other every day and that included Emily hearing Victoria throw up every morning. After the third time this happened, she stationed herself outside the bathroom after Victoria ran into it, waiting for her twin to emerge. Victoria faltered no more than a moment when she opened the door to find Emily outside it. "Good morning, Emmy."

"Good morning, Vickie," Emily replied, following her elder twin back to the guest room. "It didn't sound like a good one for you, though."

The other woman shrugged, removing a change of clothes from the dresser drawer. "It's just a stomach bug, that's all."

"You haven't shown any other symptoms of a stomach bug," Emily pointed out as her sister removed the tank top and pajama bottoms she slept in, revealing a couple scars on her torso that must have come from bullet wounds and a rather long one high on her right thigh.

Victoria remained quiet as she exchanged her panties for a clean pair and put on a bra. "Just because I'm not showing any other symptoms of it doesn't mean I don't have it."

"Vickie, I gave birth less than four years ago," Emily told her sister firmly, watching as she shook out her pants and stepped into them. "I _know_ morning sickness when I see it."

Her sister's expression remained shuttered as she slipped on her blouse and buttoned it. "Are Patrick and Ben still here?"

"They left just before you made your dash for the bathroom," she informed her, folding her arms across her chest. "Why?"

After a long moment of stillness, Victoria lifted her bowed head and Emily was shocked by the grief and pain she saw in her sister's eyes. "Because what I have to say is only for you to know right now."

"All right." She nodded slowly, wondering what about the situation could be so sad for her sister. "Pat and Ben will be gone for most of the day. Did you want to talk downstairs?"

Victoria nodded and the sisters went downstairs together. Without a word, Emily made dry toast, apple juice, and a banana. Once she'd set it in front of her twin, Victoria stared at it, and then up at Emily. "What's this?"

"I had pretty awful morning sickness while I was pregnant with Ben and Pat made this for me every morning," Emily explained, making herself a cup of tea. "Toast for whole grains and fiber, apple juice for hydration and replacing electrolytes, and the banana for potassium." She smiled softly as she remembered. "His mother always made it for him when he was growing up."

Nodding, Victoria hesitantly began to eat. Emily remained quiet, letting her twin gather her thoughts. Once she finished the toast and banana, she began, her voice quiet. "About a year after I started doing fieldwork, one particular Russian agent became noted for his ability to evade capture or, if he _was_ captured, his ability to escape custody. His name was Ivan Simanov. He's not quite as tall as Patrick, solidly built, with black hair and blue eyes."

"You fell for him?" Emily asked, getting up to pour a cup of tea for Victoria once she finished her apple juice.

She smiled wryly. "I did and we were lovers for three years, meeting secretly as often as we could arrange it."

"Obviously something happened to end that," she commented, setting the tea in front of her sister.

The grief appeared on Victoria's face again as she took a sip of her tea. "Yes, we were found out somehow and I was given orders to kill him."

"Not capture?" She had only to imagine how she'd feel if she'd been ordered to kill Patrick to understand how Victoria's heart must have wrenched at the orders she was given.

"No." Victoria shook her head. "As my handler told me, he was too high a risk for escape to outweigh the value of any information he might have."

Leaning forward in her chair, Emily asked, "Did you know you were pregnant at the time?"

"I'd found out less than an hour before I was given my orders." Victoria's face was bleak when she looked up at her sister. "Ivan happened to be in London at the time, so I went to see him."

Studying her sister carefully, Emily whispered, "You _did_ kill him?"

"Yes." She barely managed to get the word out, burying her face in her hands as tears flooded down her cheeks. "He _told_ me to kill him, said that I'd be killed if I didn't."

Emily got up and moved around the table to hug her sister tightly. "At least you'll have his child to comfort you."

"No." Victoria gave a shuddering sigh. "MI6 wasn't pleased that I resigned. I had to shake off two tails before I came here. I won't risk them trying to get me through my child."

She slowly sat down in the chair next to her sister's, staring at her in disbelief. "You're going to give up your child?"

"Yes." Victoria wiped at her cheeks, pain and utter misery on her face. "And I won't try to keep track of him or her. I won't give my enemies any excuse to hurt me through them."

Grabbing her sister's hand, Emily told her urgently, "Pat and I will adopt them, raise them as our own. At least then you could still be part of their life."

"I thought of that," Victoria admitted, staring down at their clasped hands. "And I decided it'll be almost as bad as me keeping my child."

Emily stifled a gasp. "You mean they might try to get to you through _us_?"

"Yes, but not just you. Any family is a potential victim." Victoria gently freed her hand so she could sip her tea. "It's part of the reason I've kept my distance and changed my last name."

She frowned, reaching across the table for her own tea. "So why get in touch with us _now_?"

"You're my _twin_ , Emmy," Victoria told her urgently, making Emily feel as if they were little girls again, solemnly promising to remain best friends forever. "I _needed_ to see you."

Sipping her tea, she asked, "Will you stay in touch with us, like you told Ben you would?"

"Yes." Victoria nodded, composing herself. "I realize now that I need to have someone to be there for me and who better than my twin sister who's always understood me and never judged me?"

Setting her cup aside, Emily leaned forward to hug her sister tightly. "No matter what."

"No matter what." Victoria agreed, hugging her sister back.

* * *

  
Patrick stood in the doorway of Ben's bedroom, watching Victoria read to her nephew. He didn't even jump when a slender arm slipped around his waist, simply lifting his arm to wrap around Emily's shoulders and turning his head to press a kiss to her golden curls. Softly, he whispered, "She's so good with Ben. Sometimes it's hard to remember that she's an agent at all and could probably kill me with her bare hands."

"You're probably right, but she'd only do that if she's given a reason for it," Emily told him in an equally soft voice. "She only kills if she absolutely has to."

He nodded, resting his cheek against her hair. "I didn't think she'd be the sort to delight in killing as I've heard some agents do."

"Why, because she's a _woman_?" Emily pulled back to glare at him. "And, as such, unable to delight in killing like a man would?"

He shook his head, gripping her shoulders gently. "No, it has nothing to do with it. If she were a cold-blooded killer, would she have even bothered to get in touch with you?" He indicated the sight of Ben cuddled up to his aunt, a soft smile on her face. "Would she even be sitting there, reading to our son if she'd rather kill people?"

"I see your point." His wife looked sheepish, glancing past him at her twin sister. "You have a good point there." Looking into the bedroom in time to see Victoria tucking a sleeping Ben under the covers, Patrick gently steered Emily down the hall to their bedroom. "Pat, what are you doing?"

He made a point of closing the door behind them. "I wanted to ask you this without a chance of Victoria overhearing."

"Ask me what?" Emily folded her arms across her ample chest, eyebrows arched curiously and skeptically.

Patrick gently took his wife's hands in both of his. "Is Victoria pregnant?"

"Why do you ask?" She pulled her hands free of his, walking over to sit down on the bed.

He followed her and sat down beside her. "Because she looks like she's gaining weight even though she eats about as much as you do and I know she's been throwing up in the mornings."

After a few moments of silence, Emily turned to him, unaccountably sad. She nodded, her voice quiet when she answered, "Yes, Vicky is pregnant."

"Why are you sad?" he asked softly, lightly stroking her cheek with his fingers. "Shouldn't this be a happy occasion?"

She shook her head, reaching up to hold his hand against her cheek. "Vicky's going to give her baby up for adoption once she gives birth."

"What?" He stared at her in shock and surprise. "Why?"

Emily gave him a sardonic look. "Think of what she does for a living, Pat. Everyone she's close to would be a target, _especially_ her child."

"Are _we_ possible targets?" he asked, thinking only of the safety of his family.

She nodded, her jaw set. "Yes, we are, but don't even _think_ of suggesting that Vicky and I break off contact. She needs me more than ever right now."

"All right, I won't ask that of you." Patrick kissed her swiftly and softly. "I'll just trust that Victoria will do her best to protect us."

Emily smiled, relief in her eyes. "Good, because she will certainly do that."

* * *

  
Victoria looked down at her nephew with a smile. "Did we get everything on the list?"

"I think so." Ben consulted the list written in his mother's neat, precise handwriting. There was one more item added the end in his father's sloppier scrawl. "Oh! Dad added something but I can't read it."

Holding out her free hand, Victoria asked, "May I see it? Maybe I can read it."

"Good luck." Ben smiled wryly as he placed the paper in her hand, swinging their joined hands idly as he waited for his aunt to interpret what his father had written.

After a few moments, she let out an amused laugh. "He wrote 'ice cream cone treats for Victoria and Ben'. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great!" Her nephew beamed brightly at that. "If we cut through the alley up ahead, we'll get to a good ice cream shop on the other side of the block."

Victoria laughed again and nodded. "All right. Ice cream it is."

"Yay!" Ben would have run ahead if Victoria hadn't kept firm hold of his hand. "Aw, Aunt Vickie!"

She shook her head firmly as they entered the alley together. "I promised your parents I'd keep an eye on you and I can't do that very well if you run ahead."

"You should listen to her, Junior." A male voice commented from the shadows. The speaker, clad all in black from his ski cap and mask to his boots, emerged moments later, pointing a gun at Victoria. "Gimme your purse and jewelry." When she hesitated, he pointed the gun at Ben instead. "Or else Junior won't be going home to his parents."

Nodding, she extended her clutch purse to the mugger. When he took hold of it with his gloved hand, Victoria suddenly yanked hard, pulling him off-balance. At the same time, she shoved Ben towards a pile of boxes nearby. "Stay back, Ben!"

Before the would-be mugger could recover, she let go of her purse and used an elbow strike to knock the gun out of his other hand. Just as he realized what was happening, she punched him in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. "Aunt Vickie! Behind you!"

Now aware of the new threat, Victoria dodged to one side so the punch hit her first attacker in the cheek, who stumbled back and slowly crumpled to the ground. Using the momentum of her dodge, Victoria grabbed the second attacker's arm and twisted it up behind his back. As he cried out with surprise, she pulled her gun from its holster hidden under her jacket. Cocking it, she pressed the muzzle into his ribs. "Would you like to press your luck further?"

"You said she'd be an easy target." The second attacker hissed at the first, twisting and turning in an effort to free himself. Unfortunately for him, Victoria had not only been trained by MI6, but Ivan had also taught her a few dirty tricks she could use against bigger and stronger opponents.

"She was supposed to be," the first wheezed, still trying to catch his breath.

"Haven't you heard of the saying that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?" Victoria shook her head, and then addressed her nephew. "Ben, I have some zip ties in my purse. Could you bring it to me?"

"Yes, Aunt Vickie." Ben emerged from where he'd been hiding, tear tracks on his cheeks and blue-gray eyes wide. Eyeing the second mugger warily, he picked up the abandoned purse and brought it to her, holding it open so she could rifle through it for the zip ties. The moment she found them, he scampered back to where he'd hidden before, clutching the purse against his chest. Tucking the extra zip ties under one arm, Victoria yanked the mugger's other arm behind him and bound his wrists together. Spotting a ring in the brick wall nearby, she dragged him over to it and used another zip tie to secure him to it. Once he was taken care of, she secured the other mugger the same way.

Both muggers now secure, Victoria holstered her weapon, a little disappointed that it had been so easy to take care of them. She was former MI6, after all! Removing their masks and ski caps, she knocked each man out with a single punch. "I'll be sure to call the police and tell them where you are, gentlemen. Have a nice day." With that, she turned to find her nephew and felt her heart stop when she didn't immediately see him. Ignoring a twinge of pain in her back, she moved quickly towards the stack of boxes. She gave a relieved sigh when she found him scrunched as far back into the corner as he could, his eyes wide with fear. Thinking he was afraid of the muggers, she smiled reassuringly and told him, "It's all right, Ben, you can come out now." He flinched when she stretched out her hand to help him. _Oh, God, it's **me** he's afraid of!_ "Oh, Ben, I'm sorry you had to see that, but I'd _never_ hurt you." When he still didn't come out, she thought for a moment before asking, "Do you think your mum would let me anywhere _near_ you if she thought I might hurt you?"

After a moment's thought, Ben shook his head and smiled hesitantly. Victoria offered him a reassuring smile in return and wiggled the fingers of her extended hand, reminding him that it was okay. Bursting into tears again, he all but threw himself at her. "I was so scared, Aunt Vickie!"

"It's all right, Ben." She rubbed his back soothingly, ignoring the twinge in her own as she tried to calm him down. "I'm here and I'll keep you safe."

"I don't want ice cream anymore," he mumbled, scrubbing his face with his eyes. "C'n we just go home now?"

"Of course we can," Victoria assured him, leading him back the way they'd come. "After I make a quick phone call, all right?"

"All right."

* * *

  
"Mom! Dad!" Patrick and Emily had just barely entered the house later that afternoon when their son flung himself at them.

Exchanging concerned glances even as they hugged their son, husband and wife looked at Victoria, who'd followed her nephew into the entryway. "Vickie?"

"We were attacked by muggers," she explained, glancing at Ben with a look in her eyes that Emily couldn't quite interpret. "I protected the two of us, but I'm afraid it scared Ben a little."

Patrick stared at his sister-in-law as he and Emily removed their coats and hung them in the closet. "You fought off muggers when you're _that_ pregnant?" He shook his head admiringly. "I certainly don't want to try to fight you when you're not pregnant at all."

"Thank you, Patrick, I'll take that as a compliment." Victoria chuckled, only for it to change to a wince, one hand going to the small of her back.

Emily frowned at her sister at that, blue eyes narrowing. "Vickie, is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, Emmy, just an occasional twinge of pain. I've been having them ever since--" She stopped with a gasp, her other hand going to the bulge of her stomach. " _That_ wasn't a twinge and it wasn't in my back."

Her twin stopped short at that, remembering something from the pregnancy books she'd been re-reading ever since Victoria had told her she was pregnant. "You've been in labor!"

"I've what?" Victoria stared at her twin while Patrick hurried down the hall to the guest room to retrieve the overnight bag she'd packed just the day before, at Emily's insistence. "I've been feeling pains in my back, _not_ my stomach, until just now."

Tugging on Victoria's arm, Emily urged her towards the door. "One of the books I read said that that can happen."

"Here's her bag, Em." Patrick offered it to his wife once she and Victoria had put their jackets on.

Smiling distractedly at her husband, Emily took enough time to kiss him softly. "I'll call with the news when I can."

"Ooooh, this baby is coming right now." Victoria grimaced, leaning against the wall, both hands on her stomach now.

Waiting until the contraction had passed, Emily guided her sister out the door and to her car. "Just breathe through each contraction. I'll get you there as soon as I can."

"I'm scared, Emmy," Victoria whispered, leaning on her sister.

Emily smiled reassuringly as she opened the car door for Victoria. "You'll be fine, Vickie. If I can do it, so can you."

"Yes, but you just had one baby." She carefully lowered herself into the passenger seat. "I'm having two."

* * *

  
Hours later found Victoria alone in her hospital room. Her twins, William and Sarah, were with the other babies in the nursery, their carefully-screened-and-chosen adoptive parents staring at them in awe and wonder. Emily had excused herself to call home and let Patrick and Ben know that everything was fine. Victoria slumped back against the pillows, sorrow and worry rushing in fast now that the pain and euphoria of giving birth had faded. _Ivan should have been here. We should be cooing over our children, arguing amiably about whether they should have English names or Russian ones. It's my own damn fault he's not here..._ Hot, bitter tears began to trickle down her cheeks as the emotions she'd kept in check spilled over. Squeezing her eyes shut did nothing to stop the tears. Covering her eyes with her hands, Victoria gave in and sobbed, truly mourning for everything she'd lost. She didn't even hear the door open and close in the midst of her misery. "Vickie? What's wrong?"

"Oh, Emmy, I wish Ivan were here!" She could barely see her sister through her tears. "He _should_ be here and he isn't and it's my fault!"

Emily sat down on the bed and gathered her sister into her arms. "You didn't have a choice. If you hadn't done what you did, you wouldn't be here now and neither would William and Sarah."

"I shouldn't have _needed_ to make the choice," Victoria clutched at her sister, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Just because he was KGB and I was MI6--"

Pulling back a little, Emily gave her sister a shake. "Stop this pity party at once! Thinking of could'ves and should'ves will do you no good. Do you think Ivan would want you to sit here feeling sorry for yourself when you've just given birth to two beautiful children?"

"No," Victoria admitted, wiping away the tear tracks on her cheeks. "He'd have wanted me to carry on and live."

Pleased that she'd gotten through to her sister, Emily reached over to the table for the box of tissues, offering them to Victoria. "Exactly. Be glad you've survived this long and now have a son and daughter."

"Not for long." She dabbed at her eyes, the worst of her tears having passed. She offered a brave smile, though. "I'll manage. They're going to have good homes. I made sure of that."

Emily frowned a little. "I still wish you'd let me and Pat raise them. At least you'd be able to see them whenever you visit and get to watch them grow up."

"You know why I won't," Victoria gave her sister a stern look. "I'd like that, too, but it'll be better this way."

Sighing softly, Emily nodded. "I understand."

"Thank you, Emmy."

"You're welcome, Vickie."

* * *

  
As soon as she'd recovered sufficiently from giving birth, Victoria applied for a position with the CIA. They were more than happy to hire her, as her reputation with MI6 had preceded her. The agency soon had her so busy that her visits grew further and further apart. When Ben was about ten, Emily greeted her twin with delight, throwing her arms around her in a tight hug. "Vickie! It's been ages! How are you?"

"Hello, Emmy." Victoria returned her sister's hug with a smile and they went inside. They looked even more alike now. Emily didn't seem to be curling her hair and Victoria hadn't cut hers since the last time they'd seen each other. "I haven't even been to my apartment yet. I had to come see you first."

Ushering her sister into the kitchen, Emily busied herself at the stove, preparing tea for them. "I'm flattered. How long will you be in town?"

"A few weeks I hope," Victoria replied, looking around curiously. Something was missing, but she couldn't quite figure it out. "How are Ben and Patrick?"

It didn't escape her notice that Emily hesitated a moment before replying, "They're both fine. They'll be glad to see you."

"I'll be glad to see them, too," she assured her twin, accepting her cup of tea with a smile. "Is Patrick still looking for the Templar Treasure?"

Emily sat down across from Victoria with her own tea, her expression closed and her mouth pressed into a thin line. "I don't know."

"Emmy?" The elder twin studied the younger for several moments. There were lines around Emily's mouth and eyes that hadn't been there the last time they'd seen each other and shadows of emotional pain in the depths of the blue eyes so like Victoria's. "What happened between you and Patrick?"

Anger flashed in Emily's eyes. "I won't go into details, but the last thing he did was wipe out our bank account to buy a worthless piece of junk that he _swore_ would lead to the Templar Treasure. It didn't and the checks I'd written to the pay our bills all bounced and I had to use the money we were setting aside for Ben's college fund to cover them _and_ the fines we received for the checks bouncing in the first place."

"When did this happen?" Victoria's hand clenched around her teacup as she stared at her twin, starting to realize what had seemed so off about her sister's home: there was no sign that Patrick or Ben lived there, too. "What did you do?"

Emily waved her hand dismissively, taking another sip of her tea. "A few months ago and I divorced Patrick. What else could I do? He can was his own money on that foolish treasure hunt, but I _won't_ let him waste mine on it, too."

"I thought you _loved_ him," Victoria stared at her sister dubiously. Watching her sister and brother-in-law made her heart ache sometimes for what she didn't have any longer, but it'd been reassuring, too, knowing that _one_ of them was happily married at least. "You were so happy together!"

Getting up and pacing to the window, Emily wrapped her arms around her waist in a gesture that told Victoria that her sister was feeling particularly vulnerable. "How could you tell? You've become so wrapped up in your work that you're not around as much as you used to be. We were having trouble well before I filed for divorce." She turned to face her sister, angry tears in her eyes. "He missed Ben's birthday because he was off on another wild goose chase! He barely remembered to even call and wish Ben a happy birthday! What am I supposed to when the treasure hunt is more important to him than his own son?"

"Did you try talking to him about it?" Victoria demanded, standing up to face her twin across the kitchen table. "Tell him that his priorities were wrong?"

Glaring, Emily snapped, "Yes, I did, and it just degenerated into _another_ argument. Towards the end, we couldn't seem to hold a civil conversation anymore. We argued about _everything_."

"If I remember correctly, the wedding vows say 'for better or for worse'," Victoria pointed out, both hands braced on the table as she leaned towards her twin. "Not to bail out when things get tough."

Matching her sister's pose, Emily answered in a surprisingly level voice, "As if _you_ know anything about that! You killed the man you loved!"

"I had no choice!" Victoria's hands clenched into fists on the table. She would _not_ attack her sister. "It had to be him or me!"

Her eyes narrowing, Emily asked, "Did _you_ try to make it work? I know _I_ did, for all the good it did me. It was like beating my head against a brick wall. I _had_ to leave him; otherwise I was going to go mad."

"At least he's still alive and you get to see your son." Victoria straightened up and turned away, biting her lip as she remembered anew everything she'd lost.

She stiffened when arms slid around her waist from behind, but she relaxed the next moment, leaning back against her twin. As much as she would have preferred to go off and fire several rounds of ammunition into a target, she stayed because Emily was the only family she had left who accepted her as she was without any judgments or expectations.

 **End**


End file.
